


If We Don't Dare to Hold It

by InkRavens



Series: Busy Trying to Be Something Else [5]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Adventures, Found Family, Hunters, Hurt/Comfort, Legends, M/M, Multi, Origin Story, Supernatural AU - Freeform, kids being kids
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-22 22:21:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30045639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InkRavens/pseuds/InkRavens
Summary: Kakashi sat at the kitchen table with a bowl of cereal.It was four in the morning.The whole house felt like someone had thrown a blanket over it. Everyday sounds went quiet in the presence of drawn curtains and thickly shaded lamps.All noises dampened by the knowledge of urgency. An uncertainty that drifted like fog across the floor.A new kid.A sick one.And they weren’t sure if he was going to make it.
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi & Maito Gai | Might Guy, Namikaze Minato/Uzumaki Kushina
Series: Busy Trying to Be Something Else [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2019746
Kudos: 2





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I own nothing.

Kakashi sat at the kitchen table with a bowl of cereal.

It was four in the morning.

The whole house felt like someone had thrown a blanket over it. Everyday sounds went quiet in the presence of drawn curtains and thickly shaded lamps.

All noises dampened by the knowledge of urgency. An uncertainty that drifted like fog across the floor.

A new kid.

A sick one.

And they weren’t sure if he was going to make it.

The house, once bright and lively, had become a place of shadows.

Minato padded down the dark stairwell, his footfalls silenced by his thick green socks. The orange and yellow sweater he wore was the only bright thing left. He carried the bowl of soup he had gone upstairs with six hours ago.

He sighed when he reached the kitchen, rubbing his eyes and disheveling his glasses.

“You’re up early.” He poured the full bowl of soup into the trash before quietly washing it and placing it on the dish rack next to five other identical bowls.

“Couldn’t sleep,” Kakashi said as he poked at his now soggy cereal. Kakashi knew from observation that the child hadn’t eaten in the three days he’d been there. Kakashi himself had barely eaten. His hands felt like they should be shaking but they were steady as he held his spoon. They were always steady.

“Do you have training today, or school?”

“Training.” Kakashi folded his hands in his lap and leaned back in the chair. Sliding down so that he was slouching. His eyes felt heavy with want of sleep but it evaded him. Too many nightmares. Too many sounds howling at his door.

“Have you spoken to anyone about what happened?” Minato leaned against the counter, his own exhaustion readable on his face.

_What a strange thing the hours of midnight to five am were,_ Kakashi mused, _So much can be read on a person during that time. So many things left open and unguarded. As if everyone expects to be hidden in the silence and darkness. So many ghosts, suddenly visible._

“Have you?”

“You’re evading.” Minato frowned at Kakashi, whose face remained nonchalant.

“Am I?”

“I’m not playing this game. You don’t have to talk to me but you should talk to someone. Gai maybe?”

Kakashi made a noise of distaste which caused Minato to raise an eyebrow at him.

“Kakashi, he’s your friend.”

“He’s a nuisance.”

Minato sighed and rubbed his face again, “Alright. Alright. I’ll stop pressing.”

They sat in silence for a few more minutes before Minato’s phone buzzed and he flipped it open. He sighed again and left the room.

Kakashi got up and dumped his cereal in the trash, washing his bowl and placing it next to the six others. He had a sudden vision of dragging the drying rack off the counter. Watching each of the identical bowls smash across the floor. Instead, he turned and walked away from them.


	2. The House of Shadows

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I own nothing

The lamp was covered in a sheet that trailed down to the floor. It stood by the bedside, a phantom standing watch over the frail and pale form.

“Thanks again Gai,” The teen in the chair was quieter than Minato had ever seen him. His pant legs were already a few inches too short for him, and the bright green shirt he was wearing had a few tears near the hem. He was also in need of a haircut, his bangs falling into his eyes so that he had to keep pushing them out of his face. Other than that movement though, he was as still as a statue. He hadn’t torn his eyes away from the boy on the bed since he had come up the stairs to the small attic room. Minato glanced at Kushina as she checked the bag of blood attached to Gai’s arm. Her bright red hair was pulled back and she stuck her tongue out in concentration.

“That should do it!” Minato and Gai both jumped. She laughed, “Sorry.” She busied herself taking the needle out of Gai’s arm and placing a bandaid on it. Discarding the medical waste in its red bin and packing up the kit in its box. She stood and stored it by the bedside. “He’s lucky you’re a match.”

“Is- is he going to make it?”

“Only time will tell. You should go lay down. Get something to eat and drink.” Kushina put her hand on his shoulder and guided him out the door. Once she heard him on the landing below her smile fell and she frowned at the body.

“He needs a medic. I don’t think I can help him.”

“We don’t have a medic.”

“We need a win, Minato. We’ve lost too much. We need a win.”

Minato didn’t respond, just stood and checked the boy’s pulse. He could feel it now which was a good sign but it was as fast as a small bird’s. And his skin was cold to the touch no matter how many heating pads they plugged in or blankets they put on him. “The damage might be too much for us to do anything.”

“Maybe he would have been better off where we found him.”

“That wasn’t living.”

“Neither is this.”

“If he’s strong he will make it. I’ve already tried calling Tsunade. There’s not much more we can do.”

“We can’t lose him.”

“I know.”

\----

Gai opened the fridge and poured himself some orange juice. The light from it spilled out and illuminated a small section of the kitchen like dawn approaching.

“So, what did he look like?” He jumped as he turned around spilling some of the juice on the floor.

“Shhh. Anko, you scared me.” Gai shut the door leaving the two of them in darkness.

“And? Aaand? Was he pale? Does he have red eyes? Does he have fangs?” Anko pulled her upper lip up as if showing off a pair of fangs, “Tell me. Tell me. Tell me.” she poked the Pokemon band-aid on Gai’s arm a few times until he pulled it away.

“Knock it off.” Gai took his orange juice and tried to leave the kitchen. Anko raced around the table and blocked his exit. He sighed, head tossed upward in dramatics.

“Fine. He was,” Gai chewed his bottom lip, “he was sick looking. Small. Alright? Auntie told me I have to go drink some juice so I don’t pass out from the blood transfusion… again. She also told me to lay down just in case.” Gai walked past Anko who followed close behind him. He sat on the couch and sipped his juice. Anko draped herself across the back and hummed to herself as she picked at the stray threads of the purple afghan on the back of it.

She eventually came around and sat next to him. “You seem quiet. And… less hyper. Does your stomach hurt?” Her brow was pinched in concern.

“No. My stomach’s fine. I’m just tired.”

“Have you seen Kashi?”

Gai’s shoulders slumped as he put his glass down on the floor as he sighed again, “Yeah. He’s sad still though and I don’t know how to help him.”

“Why do you hang out with him if he’s so mean to you all the time?”

“Because he’s my best friend.”

“Doesn’t sound like a friend to me.”

“You wouldn’t understand.”

“Why? Because I’m younger?”

“No.”

“Because I’m a girl?”

“What’s that got to do with it?”

“I dunno. Seems like something people say.”

“If anyone ever says that to you make sure you punch them good.”

“Then tell meeeee. Why wouldn’t I understand? Is it some dumb boy club thing?”

“Don’t you have some training to do?”

“Nah. Teacher gave me the day off. He has some sort of errand to run or something.”

“hmm.”

Anko leaned dramatically across Gai’s lap, “Oh Woah is me. A girl with no understanding about the ways of friendship and no one to hang out with except grumpy Gai.” Gai started to laugh.

“I’m not grumpy, just thoughtful. Dai said it’s important to be thoughtful and introspective at times.”

“He probably just said that because you were being annoying,” Anko said from his lap.

“He was not.”

“Was too.”

“What are you two going on about?” Both heads turned to see Hayate exit the library closing the door firmly behind him. He had a new bandage on his cheek and a few on his knuckles. He wrapped himself more in his blanket.

“Were you sleeping in there?”

“Hn.” He grunted a response before coming over and tapping Anko’s legs to get her to put them down. “I was reading more about cursed swords.” He sat bonelessly down next to her so that the both of them were now leaning against Gai.

“Any luck?” Gai asked.

“Not yet.”

“You’ll get there.” Gai nodded and picked his juice back up before adjusting his position so that the two of them would be more comfortable. He already had a good six inches and two years on them. He felt protective of them as they curled up like small kittens next to him. Outside it started to rain hard. Thunder cracked in the distance and the three of them sat in the semi-darkness listening to it pelt the windows and fall down the chimney into the hearth.

Hayate’s breathing evened out again. Every so often his breath pulled as if it was hard for him. Anko pet his head soothingly before asking Gai again in a quiet voice, “You never told me why you hang out with Kakashi when he’s mean to you.”

“Because some people you just don’t give up on. Everyone goes through hard times and I think sometimes when those things happen, we struggle to look outside of ourselves at how we treat others. I mean, of course, if he was ever really mean to me, I wouldn’t let him get away with it. But I don’t think he’s actually meaning to be mean. I think he’s just scared. And beneath that fear, he’s just like us. And I’m going to get rid of that fear and drag him out from underneath.”

“You’re a good guy Gai.” Anko giggled at her own joke. Gai even huffed a laugh for a moment.

Upstairs the two of them could hear hushed voices and the movement of bodies crossing floors. The voices got gradually louder until they were unmistakably Minato and Kushina.

“They’ve been fighting a lot.” Anko frowned.

“There’s a lot going on.”

“I don’t like it. Teacher has also been gone a lot and he won’t tell me what he’s been doing. I’m tired of bad things happening.”

“Me too.” Gai squeezed Anko as the storm grew closer.

“You can’t just decide that on your own Minato. There’s too many others here that are relying on us!”

The rain pelted the window.

“Kushina, It’s not up for debate!”

“Then what are we supposed to do? Just wait for you to come back? What if you don’t? What about the day you don’t come back?”

A flash of lightning illuminated the room.

“Why would you say that?”

“Because if you keep running off and doing foolish things that’s what’s gonna happen. You’re not gonna come back and I’m gonna be left here. Alone. Again.”

A crash of thunder shook the walls.

Upstairs an unfamiliar voice started screaming.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. Check out Shotgun if you'd like or any of the other origin stories in this collection! I appreciate any feedback what-so-ever. So send it my way. I don't know how regularly I will be able to update this with my upcoming field season so subscribe or keep an eye out.

**Author's Note:**

> Finally posting the first few parts of my beginning to the Shotgun story I have going. If you haven't yet I recommend reading the other short origin stories I have posted in this collection. They will all come into play in this.


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